Polishing apparatus



J y .1942 1.. L WEAVER 2,289,535

POLI'SHING APPARATUS Filed. May 22;, 1940 29 28 z .4, km. 1 25 m 1 27' 30 W I I 1; 1 25' 24 INVENTOR L.l.. wan VER 8) A T TIORNEV Patented July 14, 1942 U NITED STATE-S PATENT OFFICE POLISHING APPARATUS Leo 'LfWeaverjCranford, NHL, assignor to WesternEle'ctric Company, h1corporated,New York, N. Y.,---a corporation of New York Application May 22, 194i), Serial No. 336,593

(own-4s) 5 Claims.

.materialto lay smoothly and uniformly thereon.

An object of the invention is to provide an. apparatus which is simple in construction and highly efficient in polishing various sizes of strands.

Withthis and other objects in view, the invention comprises a plurality of spaced pulleys positioned with respect to each other and having theirperipheries grooved to perform their respective functions in uniformly polishing their different portions-of a strand passingtherearound under tension.

Other objects 'and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is atop plan view of the polishing apparatus;

Fig. -2 Ba fragmentary front elevational view of the polishing apparatus;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view of'just the pulleys and the strand being polished;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of one of the pulleys illustrating the effect thereof on a smaller strand, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detailed view illustrating one manner in which the strand may be coated.

Referring now to the drawing, attention is first directed to Fig. 5, which illustrates one form of coating the strand, and consists generally of a housing l0 communicating with a supply line H through which coating material such as cellulose acetate may be fed to the housing under constant pressure, so that a strand fed through an inlet I3 through the body of coating material indicated at M and eventually through a wiping die l5, formed of suitable material such as rubber or cork, and then through an outlet l6 may be coated with the material. The strand in the present instance has an electrical conductor core (Fig. 3) having a covering of suitable insulating material such as textile strands, paper which consists mainly of pulleys 23,

pulp or the like indicated generally at 2|. When the core 20 is covered with such materials, particularlytextile strandsythere are often fibers which project outwardly. The coating of such materials with aplastic material such as cellulose acetate will laythesefibers but even then it "isdesirable'to run the coated strands through suitable means to polish the coating material,

of receiving the coated strand and polishing the outer surface thereof. The coated strand, if desired, maybe passed directly from thecoati'ng' unit 'shown in Fig. 5 to the coating apparatus 24 and 25. 'Ihesepulleys are identical in" construction, each having grooved peripheries, the grooves being indicated at 26, and being V-shaped in cross-section. Suitable means 21, 28 and 29 are provided to mount the pulleys in their spaced positions ina suitable housing 30, so that the pulleys ma'y be rotated freely during the advancement of the strand through the tortuous lpath in advancing from the coating unit shown in Fig. 5 to a'take-up reel (not shown).

Itwil1 be noted, by viewing Figs. 1, 2 and 3, that oneof the pulleys is mounted angularly Withrespect to the other's, namely the pulley 24 which extends at an angle with respect to the pulleys 23 and '25, the latter being disposed at "spacedpositions butparallelone with the'other.

During the operation of the apparatus the strand to be polished may be advanced directly to the pulleys or through a suitable coating means illustrated in Fig. 5 and upon reaching the pulley 23 the strand will enter the V-shaped groove 26 of the pulley 23 and will ride for half the revolution of the pulley in this groove. It will be noted by viewing Fig. 3, that the grooves of the pulleys merge from the straight side walls into a joining curved wall portion. These curved portions of the grooves. of the pulleys conform to the largest size of strand to be polished thereby. The strand, therefore, in passing through the groove in the pulley 23 will have substantially half its outer surface smoothed and polished and will then be directed to the pulley 24, where another portion of the surface of the strand will be polished, this portion overlapping some of the previously polished portion of the strand and including an additional unpolished portion thereof as is clearly illustrated in the lower half of Fig. 3. The strand continues in its advancement around the lower half of the pulley 2 where this additional portion of its surface is polished, and from the pulley 24 the strand is directed upwardly to the pulley 25, the latter pulley polishing the remaining unpolished portion of the strand, Therefore, the strand in advancing around the pulleys, will at each pulley have a portion of its outer surface polished, and each of these polished surfaces will be overlapped with the neXt polishing step, so that the three portions of the surface of the strand affected by each pulley will be given an overlapping polishing treatment so that the result will be a smooth and uniform polished surface.

With this structure the grooves in the pulleys need only be of sufiicient size to accommodate the largest size strand and may effectively polish strands of various sizes, that is, the various smaller sizes than that shown in Fig. 3. This is possible due to the pliable nature of the covering 2 l' and the fact that the strand is advanced under tension. The various means which may be used to advance the strand under tension are not shown other than the passing of the strand through the coating unit shown in Fig. 5. In addition to this, certain tension may be placed on the strand in removing the strand from a supply wheel (not shown). Therefore, as shown in Fig. 4, a smaller strand 35, when advancing under tension, will tend to conform to the curvature of the inner curved portions of the grooves of the pulleys and due to the overlapping effect of the areas polished by each of the pulleys, the smaller strand may be efliciently polished. It will be understood that although the covering 2| slightly compressed to cause the outer coating to conform to the curvature of the pulleys in passing therearound, the compressed portions of the covering will assume their original positions once the pressure is released, resulting in a polished strand uniform in contour.

The apparatus, therefore, provides spaced polishing pulleys over which a strand to be polished may be readily threaded without removing or adjusting any parts and which direct the strand through a tortuous path, each pulley engaging a different portion of the surface of the strand to polish and smoothly and uniformly finish its portion which overlaps portions polished by other of the pulleys, while all the pulleys are capable of readily receiving strands of various sizes to uniformly polish the outer surface thereof. Furthermore, these pulleys do not merely engage the strand tangentially but for half the circumferential distance of each pulley to more accurately polish the strand through its tension and, to enable the strand to be advanced at high speed.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is merely illustrative and may be modified and widely departed from in many ways Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for polishing strands comprising a plurality of pulleys grooved to receive a strand to be polished while advancing under tension, and means to support the pulleys at spaced positions one angularly with respect to another to cause each pulley to engage and polish a different portion of the strand surface.

2. An apparatus for polishing strands comprising a plurality of pulleys grooved to singly receive various sizes of strands to be polished while advancing, and means to support the pulleys at spaced positions one angularly with respect to another to cause each pulley to engage and polish a dilferent portion of the strand surface.

3. An apparatus for polishing strands comprising a plurality of pulleys having substantially V-shaped grooves to receive a strand to be polished while advancing, and means to support the pulleys at spaced positions one angularly with respect to another to cause each pulley to engage and polish a different portion of the strand surface.

4. An apparatus for polishing strands comprising a plurality of pulleys having substantially V-shaped grooves to singly receive various sizes of strands to be polished, and means to support the pulleys at spaced positions one angularly with respect to another to cause each pulley to engage and polish a different portion of the strand surface.

5. An apparatus for polishing strands comprising a. plurality of pulleys grooved to receive a strand to be polished while advancing under tension, and means to support the pulleys in spaced positions to cause the strand to travel partially around one pulley in one plane and be directed to the groove of another pulley around which the strand will travel in another plane, the travel of the strand in the different planes causing polishing of diiferent portions thereof to completely polish the strand.

LEO L. WEAVER. 

